FastPass+ open to all guests including offsite beginning next week at Disney's Animal Kingdom

[JerseyDad]

Relax! You’re getting way ahead of yourself. Remember you’re going to WDW on vacation which is like trying to solve the world’s most complicated puzzle. Don’t worry about getting on silly rides, you should be asking your family what they’re in the mood to eat today so they can eat that 3 months from now.


This is the time where you should be gathering data, creating spreadsheets, pulling your hair out, you know, all the fun stuff leading up to your vacation. It sounds like you might have kids, I’ve got three myself. I’m not on any moms panel but a little tip I’ll share is that by this point I’ve got them all trying to bathe, dress , and eat breakfast as quickly as possible. They are becoming a well-oiled machine. I might get a little loud with my 4yo, which she doesn’t like, but that’s the price you pay if want to see those princesses.


Oh and don’t forget to synch everyone’s body clock so you can all take bathroom breaks at the same time. Nothing ruins a vacation quicker than having to get out of line because someone is not in tune with their bladder.

....OMG!! (Alert!! I've never used "OMG" before) ....such a post ....such not-so-between-the-lines-sarcasm .....such disdain for "the system"!!

....I think I love it? ...no ....no ...definitely ...I love it.

 

[George]

The interactive queue's do create an organizational issue. I think we'll all have to agree that if you "stop to play, your spot in line will go away", or "If you goof around, your spot in the queue will go to someone from another town", or "Stop to smear Pooh's interactive Hunny, and you will lose your place to someone else who has paid money", or "Blow stuff up on Big Thunder, your place in the organizational waiting structure will go down under", or "If you play the game whilst hoping to ride Space, your drink with arsenic will be laced", or "If you queue up for Soarin', you know your life will be boring", or "Get distracted by the intergalactic flight schedule in Star Tours and your wait could be as long as the time that has elapsed since first run theatres showed Ben Hur".

 

[JerseyDad]

The interactive queue's do create an organizational issue. I think we'll all have to agree that if you "stop to play, your spot in line will go away", or "If you goof around, your spot in the queue will go to someone from another town", or "Stop to smear Pooh's interactive Hunny, and you will lose your place to someone else who has paid money", or "Blow stuff up on Big Thunder, your place in the organizational waiting structure will go down under", or "If you play the game whilst hoping to ride Space, your drink with arsenic will be laced", or "If you queue up for Soarin', you know your life will be boring", or "Get distracted by the intergalactic flight schedule in Star Tours and your wait could be as long as the time that has elapsed since first run theatres showed Ben Hur".

....always kinda' realized that the 'interactive" queues were there to 'distract' the impatient guests while waiting on lines. But given the prediction about increasing line wait times ...shouldn't the little 'game' that's on the line in Space Mountain ...now be replaced with a more appropriate "time killer" ....like ...perhaps ...a screening of "Gone With The Wind" ?

 

[ToTBellHop]

....always kinda' realized that the 'interactive" queues were there to 'distract' the impatient guests while waiting on lines. But given the prediction about increasing line wait times ...shouldn't the little 'game' that's on the line in Space Mountain ...now be replaced with a more appropriate "time killer" ....like ...perhaps ...a screening of "Gone With The Wind" ?

I was thinking 2001.

 

[kimbermouse]

You can only schedule FP+ once you are 60 days out. Until then all you can really do is schedule ADRs and customize your magic bands.

Thank you!!!

 

[JerseyDad]

I was thinking 2001.

....but '2001' is ONLY 2 hrs long ....whereas "GWTW" is 4 hrs

 

[Tom Morrow]

Fastpass does and always has drastically increased the standby line wait times, if you do not believe this, then you do not fully understand how Fastpass works.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

Fastpass does and always has drastically increased the standby line wait times, if you do not believe this, then you do not fully understand how Fastpass works.

Fast pass does not increase wait times.

People think that when they are in the regular line, and have to watch the fast pass line people enter first, that the fast pass line is what makes the regular line longer. However, if there was no fast pass, those people would simply be added to the regular line, which then creates just as long of a wait.

 

[TimeTrip]

Fast pass does not increase wait times.

People think that when they are in the regular line, and have to watch the fast pass line people enter first, that the fast pass line is what makes the regular line longer. However, if there was no fast pass, those people would simply be added to the regular line, which then creates just as long of a wait.

Not if the people that would have had the fast pass decided to not get in the standby line because of the wait time.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Fast pass does not increase wait times.

People think that when they are in the regular line, and have to watch the fast pass line people enter first, that the fast pass line is what makes the regular line longer. However, if there was no fast pass, those people would simply be added to the regular line, which then creates just as long of a wait.

I know why it might seem like this is true, but here's a brief explanation as to why that is false:

A ride's hourly capacity is fixed. Let's say a ride can hold 1000 people an hour. Now let's say there is only one line, IE no Fastpass line. You get in line and there are 1,000 people ahead of you in line. Great, you have a one hour wait.

BUT! Remember that Disney's Fastpass system at high demand rides means that a MINIMUM of 80% of the ride's capacity is devoted to the Fastpass line. MINIMUM. With a standby line and a Fastpass line, this means that, in addition to the 1,000 people that are physically in front of you in the standby line, an indefinite number of people will "cut" ahead of you in the Fastpass queue. You could say that that number is 800 people, but since the Fastpass line is continuously receiving more people that have to wait 15 minutes or less, the result is the number of people that ride before you with a Fastpass line is higher than could ever even be physically possible with just one fixed line.

In addition, Fastpass means people can "occupy" two or multiple lines at once, so if they grab a Fastpass for Soarin' and wait in the standby line for Test Track, they are "in line" for both rides, so to speak, which would not be possible without a Fastpass system.

What this means is that you do not experience more attractions by using Fastpass than if Fastpass did not exist - in reality you ride about the same, yet requiring more effort on your part. You ARE, however, able to spend more of your time in shops and restaurants. People who do not utilize Fastpass are at a disadvantage and riding less than they would be if it did not exist, but those who do utilize Fastpass are not riding more than they would if it did not exist.

"Get a Fastpass to bypass the artificially inflated standby line that Fastpass created."

This is of course based on Legacy Fastpass patterns. We won't know what Fastpass+ will truly be like until everything is ironed out and Legacy Fastpass is removed. If the end result of Fastpass+ is that the rides no longer have to devote a minimum of 80% of their capacity to the Fastpass queue, even if its only reduced to, say, 60%, then Fastpass+ will be a "win" in my book.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Firstly, I would imagine that during Spring Break, with waits of 2-4 hours, you weren't getting more than 3 FPs in a single day anyway (assuming you get one at 9 am for 10 am, but 10 am you are probably looking at a 1 pm FP for anything worthwhile, and by 1 pm you'd be lucky to get a 9 pm FP for Peter Pan). The point of the Park Hopper? Go to one park in the morning, get on w/o much wait, and have FPs reserved for your evening park; under the current system, evenings in a theme park are frequently filled w/ fluff attractions, not E-Tickets, due to wait times. Now you can actually arrive at Epcot at 3 pm during Spring Break and ride Soarin.

No system is perfect, but I think FP+ could actually benefit folks during the busiest weeks if used effectively. During the quiet months, when you could reasonably get a FP for Soarin, Test Track, and Maelstrom in one day, FP+ is a negative.

My biggest bone to pick w/ the new system is how much it seems to have cost and, therefore, the fact that it has cost us MANY new attractions.

You just quoted my plan of attack for the Christmas holidays!

 

[Tom Morrow]

Also, there's so much doom and gloom around Fastpass+ that I'd like to point out that there are many other positives to it compared to the old system. Yes, Fastpass+ is going to change the dynamic of how you "do" a Disney park. Yes, the learning curve is higher, its a bit complicated, its a monstrous task to implement this technology and work out all the bugs. But...

- You no longer have to walk to an attraction, obtain a Fastpass, only to walk away and return again later in the day to ride.
- You are not blocked out for 2 hours before obtaining another Fastpass.
- With Legacy Fastpass, once the Fastpasses are gone for the day, they are gone. With Fastpass+, the availability is live and constantly updated as the ride's capacity changes and people change and move their scheduled Fastpass+ selections. This means that if an attraction currently says there are no Fastpass+ slot times available, all hope isn't lost, that could change later in the day (and it does, even now with only a fraction of FP capacity being devoted to FP+)
- If you miss a Fastpass+ reservation, you can change it to a later time or even different attraction, based on availability. It isn't "lost".
- You can change and adjust your Fastpass reservations live and as needed.
- Being entirely electronic, Disney can much more easily adjust the crowd distribution live, as its happening.
- If an attraction you have a scheduled FP+ for goes down, you automatically get a recovery Fastpass that you can use at that attraction when it re-opens or multiple other attractions.
- By limiting everyone's use of the system, this could... could mean lower Fastpass queue demand at popular attractions, resulting in Faster moving standby lines. For this, we will have to wait and see.
- Only some Fastpass+ availability will be devoted to advanced reservations - there will still be plenty of "day of" Fastpass+ availability once Legacy Fastpass is removed.

And there are many more. Many of you are against the idea of picking your park and attractions in advance. But most of the time you generally know what park you will go to at least the next day. If you change your mind on the park, you can easily change your selections to another park the night before or the day of. If you change your mind on the attractions you want and the times you want, you can change and modify them before you use them. If you chose Space Mountain at 5:00 PM 60 days in advance, you are not "locked in" to that, you can change it as needed.

Also, there's a lot of gripe about the 3 per day, 1 park per day limit, and I agree, but I'm willing to bet that this will change once this is fully rolled out and Legacy Fastpass is removed.

So yes, I agree that it's pretty crazy and messy right now, but I don't think that Fastpass+ is something everyone should crap all over already. The transition period from legacy Fastpass to Fastpass+ is going to be rough, but there are positive aspects to this!

 

[CDavid]

Fast pass does not increase wait times.

People think that when they are in the regular line, and have to watch the fast pass line people enter first, that the fast pass line is what makes the regular line longer. However, if there was no fast pass, those people would simply be added to the regular line, which then creates just as long of a wait.

You cannot just assume that the same people (in numbers) are going to ride a given attraction whether FP/FP+ exists or not. Some simply won't ride without a FP of some sort (for whatever reason), while at the other extreme, you have guests who don't have a FP/FP+ and really want to ride, but don't, because the existence of FP/FP+ makes the standby line move slower (regardless of actual wait time) than it would if there were only one queue for everyone.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Last year I was there on Easter. Got to MK 8am - 2am, throughout the entire day, I had more than 6 fast passes. We went on SM, TM, SM, Buzz, Peter Pan, Small World and Buzz again and did all without waiting in any lines. That is pretty much the norm throughout all are yearly vacations there.

I would rather pay for the extra day and spend two 9 hour days and get 6 FP+ than to spend a single 18 hour day and be completely exhausted the next day or two. I know a lot of guests do the park commando style but those days are past for my family, we would rather stay longer... You know slow down and smell the roses type trips.

 

[asianway]

Also, there's so much doom and gloom around Fastpass+ that I'd like to point out that there are many other positives to it compared to the old system. Yes, Fastpass+ is going to change the dynamic of how you "do" a Disney park. Yes, the learning curve is higher, its a bit complicated, its a monstrous task to implement this technology and work out all the bugs. But...

- You no longer have to walk to an attraction, obtain a Fastpass, only to walk away and return again later in the day to ride.
- You are not blocked out for 2 hours before obtaining another Fastpass.
- With Legacy Fastpass, once the Fastpasses are gone for the day, they are gone. With Fastpass+, the availability is live and constantly updated as the ride's capacity changes and people change and move their scheduled Fastpass+ selections. This means that if an attraction currently says there are no Fastpass+ slot times available, all hope isn't lost, that could change later in the day (and it does, even now with only a fraction of FP capacity being devoted to FP+)
- If you miss a Fastpass+ reservation, you can change it to a later time or even different attraction, based on availability. It isn't "lost".
- You can change and adjust your Fastpass reservations live and as needed.
- Being entirely electronic, Disney can much more easily adjust the crowd distribution live, as its happening.
- If an attraction you have a scheduled FP+ for goes down, you automatically get a recovery Fastpass that you can use at that attraction when it re-opens or multiple other attractions.
- By limiting everyone's use of the system, this could... could mean lower Fastpass queue demand at popular attractions, resulting in Faster moving standby lines. For this, we will have to wait and see.
- Only some Fastpass+ availability will be devoted to advanced reservations - there will still be plenty of "day of" Fastpass+ availability once Legacy Fastpass is removed.

And there are many more. Many of you are against the idea of picking your park and attractions in advance. But most of the time you generally know what park you will go to at least the next day. If you change your mind on the park, you can easily change your selections to another park the night before or the day of. If you change your mind on the attractions you want and the times you want, you can change and modify them before you use them. If you chose Space Mountain at 5:00 PM 60 days in advance, you are not "locked in" to that, you can change it as needed.

Also, there's a lot of gripe about the 3 per day, 1 park per day limit, and I agree, but I'm willing to bet that this will change once this is fully rolled out and Legacy Fastpass is removed.

So yes, I agree that it's pretty crazy and messy right now, but I don't think that Fastpass+ is something everyone should crap all over already. The transition period from legacy Fastpass to Fastpass+ is going to be rough, but there are positive aspects to this!

The people on this board are some of the Most savvy customers Wdw has, and there's a learning curve. Apply this to your average honey boo boo guest and it's a recipe for disaster.

 

[flynnibus]

BUT! Remember that Disney's Fastpass system at high demand rides means that a MINIMUM of 80% of the ride's capacity is devoted to the Fastpass line. MINIMUM.

Bunkus.

Don't let a 8-1 merge ratio lead you to believe that means 80%+ of a ride's capacity is given to FP.

since the Fastpass line is continuously receiving more people that have to wait 15 minutes or less, the result is the number of people that ride before you with a Fastpass line is higher than could ever even be physically possible with just one fixed line.

More bunkus. Physically possible??

Standby moves slower simply because it's a lower priority queue. The number of people that get into the priority queue is throttled. The impact on standby is directly related to the number of people admitted to the priority queue while you are in line.

In addition, Fastpass means people can "occupy" two or multiple lines at once, so if they grab a Fastpass for Soarin' and wait in the standby line for Test Track, they are "in line" for both rides, so to speak, which would not be possible without a Fastpass system.

A perception - but not really a reality. If FP were replaced by a lottery system to get into the priority queue vs the standby... the impact is similar. People are put into the ride ahead of you based on priority... and the amount of priority entrances is throttled.

What this means is that you do not experience more attractions by using Fastpass than if Fastpass did not exist - in reality you ride about the same

More bunkus - it's easy to measure the gain from FP in time... the gain easily offsets any increase at other attractions. Your train of logic only works for those that believe there never were lines at WDW before FP or argue they never waited more than 15mins for anything...

 

[Tom Morrow]

Bunkus.

Don't let a 8-1 merge ratio lead you to believe that means 80%+ of a ride's capacity is given to FP.

I know first-hand that it absolutely is, at least when there is sustained Fastpass demand. Management constantly monitors the CMs to make sure it happens. At all of the most popular attractions, I absolutely promise you that throughout most of the day, around 80% or more of the rides' capacities are filled from the Fastpass queue. The standard ratio is 1:4, not 1:8. So 4 people from Standby = 16 from Fastpass. At rides like Soarin', Test Track, Everest... the highest demand rides, its more often closer to 90% Fastpass.

If I had the time and skills I would draw up a little flash animation as a visual aid. With a Fastpass line, more people are riding before you than would be possible with one line in which there is a fixed number of people ahead of you.

More bunkus - it's easy to measure the gain from FP in time... the gain easily offsets any increase at other attractions. Your train of logic only works for those that believe there never were lines at WDW before FP or argue they never waited more than 15mins for anything...

I wasn't saying the lines would be 15 minutes, but they would be significantly more manageable and tolerable. Something like, 40 minutes for Soarin' instead of either a 90 minute standby queue or obtaining a Fastpass that entitles you to enter the Fastpass queue 6 hours later and still experience a 20+ minute Fastpass queue.

But Fastpass has created a mindset that waiting anything more than 15-20 minutes for something is absolutely dreadful.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

I would rather pay for the extra day and spend two 9 hour days and get 6 FP+ than to spend a single 18 hour day and be completely exhausted the next day or two. I know a lot of guests do the park commando style but those days are past for my family, we would rather stay longer... You know slow down and smell the roses type trips.

My kids are 10 and 8 and none of us were exhausted. When we go to Disney, we go for 14 days and we do that same schedule pretty much every day. I guess it depends on the age, we are both early 30's and trust me, it is more exhausting waiting in one line for 220 minutes, then it is walking around the park going on 7 rides.

 

[Tom Morrow]

The people on this board are some of the Most savvy customers Wdw has, and there's a learning curve. Apply this to your average honey boo boo guest and it's a recipe for disaster.

Oh, I agree. IMO the biggest issue with this implementation of FP+ is giving guests the ability to book their Fastpasses in advance, out of park. That seems to be what causes a good portion of the technical issues and makes the learning curve extremely high for the average guest. I feel as though they should have implemented in-park, day-of only Fastpass+ scheduling first and ensured that that worked smoothly before giving guests the option to schedule them in advance. That way it wouldn't be such a drastic transition, but more of a "paper to electronic/choose your time" transition.

 

[Disneyfamily4]

I feel bad for all of the first time Resort Guests. There is going to be a lot of people thinking they need to waste a fast pass on a parade or firework show. Not to mention half the rides in the tier 2 in Epcot. Figmant? Captain EO?Illuminations? Think about how mad someone will be wasting a fast pass for one of those attractions, and then when you get there, you see all of 3 people in line.